MeTooK12 Shines Light on Sexual Assault and Harassment in Grade School

We talk about sexual assault in college, and sexual harassment in the workplace. But these things don't only happen to people over the age of 18. That's why the organization Stop Sexual Assault in Schools has started #MeTooK12 — a branch of the Me Too movement for people in grade school.

According to the Washington Post, the organization started #MeTooK12 to give voice to those in middle and high schools, and even elementary schools, across the country who have experienced sexual harassment or assault — an issue that's hard to quantify because the numbers don't always exist. According to an Associated Press investigation in May, 2017, there were 17,000 reports of sexual assaults committed by students against classmates between the fall of 2011 and spring of 2015. That, the investigation found, is likely only a fraction of the actual number of assaults because of underreporting and lack of cohesive systems to track these reports. The Washington Post pointed out that, in a 2017 report, the American Association of University Women said it had long been skeptical of "schools’ low reporting rates when it comes to sexual harassment and bullying."

Stop Sexual Assault in Schools started this branch of the #MeToo movement to help bring those stories that may be hidden to light.

"Few people of influence understand how sexual harassment and assault devastate the lives of K-12 students, their families, and friends—beginning in elementary school; and the younger the victim, the more devastating the impact and greater vulnerability to repeated assault," Stop Sexual Assault in Schools said in an announcement, according to Ed Week. "Not only do the survivors' emotional and psychological scars endure long after the incidents, their social lives, education, and career dreams can be shattered."